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Ubuntu WebApps is a new feature that will be integrated with Ubuntu by default, starting with Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal. This new technology allows websites such as Gmail, Grooveshark, Last.fm, Facebook, Google Docs and many others to be tightly integrated with the desktop (Unity): they will support HUD, you'll receive desktop notifications, quicklists, ALT-TAB support and they will integrate with the messaging menu:

Examples of what the new WebApps technology can do:

Control Grooveshark from the Ubuntu Sound Menu

See how many unread emails you have in your Gmail or Yahoo Mail inbox from the Ubuntu Messaging Menu

Get native desktop notifications for Facebook, Gmail, Google+

Some services like Facebook, Google (including Docs, Gmail, Google+, Picasa and YouTube), Flickr, Twitter, Foursquare and Identi.ca will be directly integrated into Online Accounts, available in the Ubuntu Control Center (System Settings):

Supported websites and browsers

Among the supported websites are Yahoo Mail, Google services like Gmail, Google Calendar, News, Google Plus, Reader, YouTube, Launchpad, Facebook, Twitter, Grooveshark, Last.fm and others. A complete list of supported websites can be found here. The community will be able to add support for more websites - the API documentation can be found HERE.

At the moment, only Firefox and Chromium browsers are supported. Google Chrome isn't supported because the PPA installs a custom Chromium build and Google Chrome can't be uploaded to a PPA due to its license.

Install Ubuntu WebApps Technology In Ubuntu 12.10 or 12.04

This technology will be available in Ubuntu 12.10 by default, but a preview release is already available in a PPA for Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04, so you can already give it a try. But since this is a preview release, you'll probably find bugs so make sure you know what you're doing!

Important: the WebApps feature won't work properly if you're using a PPA in Ubuntu 12.04 that installs a newer Unity version, such as the Unity Revamped PPA. To be able to make full use of the new WebApps Ubuntu feature, you need to purge that PPA firstly.

Then log out, log back in and visit one of the supported websites using Firefox or Chromium and a popup should be displayed, asking if you want to integrate that website with Ubuntu:

click "Integrate" for Firefox or "Yes" for Chromium and you're ready to go. If you don't want a website to integrate with the desktop, simply don't click the Integrate/Yes button for that website.

In Firefox, the confirmation popup may disappear before you click "Integrate" (I've had some issues with this). If that happens, refresh the page and the popup should be displayed again.